Maximise your Return on Investment

Research suggests that a wrong recruit can cost a business as much as fifteen times their annual salary – so it pays to get it right.

Whether you agree with that figure or not, such a claim helps to underline the fact that people are THE most important investment that you will make in your business and, as with any investment, you want to get the best return possible.

Some of the most interesting and successful businesses we have worked with have had a real understanding of the importance of people. All aspects of their business have been driven by the quality of their people to help ensure outstanding performance and to give them a competitive edge.

Return on Investment

From recruitment to retirement – whether it’s dealing with poor performance or retaining the best talent – we can help ensure you get the best return possible from your people.

We regularly receive calls from organisations seeking help to address poor performance. In response, we use our expertise to help them either significantly improve the performance of their employees or we help them to manage unsuitable employees out of the business – in a safe, reasonable way with due consideration to the individuals involved.

While it is understandable that business will often seek help to address unacceptable performance, it is crucial that you don’t spend too much time analysing poor performance to the detriment of your good and top recruits.

An unfortunate consequence of such focus can be a negative reaction from your best employees who can sometimes stop performing simply to get some attention.

Getting it right

The key to successful performance management is to understand that all of your employees want clear focus. They want to know what is expected of them. They need the right tools. They want regular and constructive feedback in addition to support and recognition. Above all, you need to show that they matter – and that you care.

Don’t have favourites and try not to get angry when someone seems to struggle with things that you might consider easy. We all have different skills and different ways of learning.

As business owners and managers you should accept that you have to invest time and effort to help people learn and understand what is required to get to the levels you need.

Listen to your employees. Take time to understand how they like to learn and then manage them in a way that gets the best out of them rather than alienating and demotivating them.

And remember, there will always be occasions when someone just doesn’t work out.

At that time, it’s important that you manage an improvement or exit process well and with due consideration. If you don’t then you may end up giving a poor performer the chance to present a claim to the Employment Tribunal which can cost you even more money

Trust the experts

For more information about how we can help you ensure that you get the best return possible from your people – and for access to the most accurate HR and Employment Law advice – please call the Cream HR team on 01543 308642 or email info@creamhr.com

Join the discussion

If you have any questions or comments about the issues raised in this article, feel free to use the the fields below, our resident HR experts are on hand to help. Alternatively if you'd prefer to discuss any issue in private, call us on 01543 308642